COVID-19 Data Dispatch

COVID source callout: CDC Weekly Review

Written by

Betsy Ladyzhets

in

I frequently rely on the CDC’s Weekly Review, a weekly newsletter that provides COVID-19 data updates, as a source for my own National Numbers updates. The CDC newsletter is usually posted on Friday afternoons. But this summer, the schedule has become far less regular.

This week, for example, there has been no Weekly Review update, even though the CDC’s long weekend didn’t start until Saturday. The same thing happened over Juneteenth weekend: no report that Friday, either.

I understand, of course, that the CDC data scientists who work on these updates deserve time off like everyone else. But these data summaries remain important for the millions of Americans relying on the CDC to track the pandemic. When the schedule of a “weekly” report becomes less regular, it demonstrates how the agency has deprioritized COVID-19.

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5 responses to “COVID source callout: CDC Weekly Review”

  1. COVID source callout: CDC takes weekends off - Source spotlight Avatar
    COVID source callout: CDC takes weekends off – Source spotlight

    […] In other words, the CDC is following in the footsteps of many state and local health departments across the country in taking weekends off from COVID-19 updates. This is pretty unsurprising, considering how many long weekends the agency’s COVID-19 tracking team has taken recently (see: last week’s callout post). […]

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  2. Tips for interpreting COVID-19 data while the CDD goes on hiatus - Federal data Avatar
    Tips for interpreting COVID-19 data while the CDD goes on hiatus – Federal data

    […] While this schedule has felt punishing at times, I’m proud of it. The coronavirus doesn’t care about holiday schedules, after all, and I enjoy maintaining regular updates for the readers relying on this publication as a key source of COVID-19 news. (Also, not many writers can say they’re more consistent than the CDC.) […]

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  3. Reflections and format shifts following the CDD’s first hiatus - Uncategorized Avatar
    Reflections and format shifts following the CDD’s first hiatus – Uncategorized

    […] breaks. While I have no intention of making like the CDC and pausing my newsletter for any federal holiday, you can expect that the COVID-19 Data Dispatch will not run every single […]

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  4. COVID source callout: CDC ends its data newsletter - Source spotlight Avatar
    COVID source callout: CDC ends its data newsletter – Source spotlight

    […] newsletter hasn’t been as reliable as one might expect from the CDC. Its writers have frequently taken the week off for federal holidays, even when the holiday falls on a Monday—and the newsletter is sent on […]

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  5. National Covid-19 trends, February 20 - The Sick Times Avatar
    National Covid-19 trends, February 20 – The Sick Times

    […] is still reporting data as of February 9. This seems to fit a pattern I’ve previously observed at the Covid-19 Data Dispatch, in which the agency often fails to update its Covid-19 data on the Friday before a long weekend […]

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